The First
by isaacswolfsbane
Summary: Tom is given the opportunity to create his first Horcrux.


**QLFC Round 10 – Of Ghosts and Portraits**

 **Cannons, Seeker (reserve):** Myrtle Warren

* * *

Tom cast a Disillusionment charm on himself as he snuck through the castle. He didn't want anyone seeing where he was going or what he was doing—not that they'd know what he was doing if they did see him, but it was better to hide so nobody would get suspicious of the large bag thrown over his shoulder.

He rounded a corner on the second floor and stopped as he saw a Ravenclaw girl running into the bathroom—his bathroom—in tears. He vaguely remembered the girl from Transfiguration the previous year—she was a Mudblood. A smile found its way onto his face. This was going to be easier than he'd originally thought.

Pointing his wand at the bathroom door, Tom whispered, " _Silencio_ ," before following the girl in, making sure not to be heard.

His original plan was to enter the Chamber of Secrets and feed the Basilisk before returning to the library to find out more about Horcruxes, but what better way was there to find the answer to a theory than to test it first hand?

When he was sure the girl was in a cubicle, Tom stepped into the room and opened the Chamber, calling the basilisk to him and instructing it to kill. He turned around, shielding his eyes so the basilisk was no threat to him.

"What are you doing in here?" a voice called indignantly from the direction of the cubicles. "Boys aren't allow—"

She fell silent as she crumpled to the floor.

He hissed at the basilisk, telling it to leave, and once he'd heard the snake leave, he closed the entrance to the Chamber and ran over to the girl. She was definitely dead, and Tom couldn't help but smile once more.

Digging through his bag, Tom pulled out the first thing he could find—an old diary—and began waving his wand in the complex motions to turn it into a Horcrux, whispering the incantation as he did so.

He waited for what seemed like forever, but nothing happened. He jumped to his feet, anger washing over him.

"Fuck!" Tom yelled, punching the nearest mirror and shattering it into a million pieces.

It hadn't worked. Tom's grand plan to start his quest for immortality had fallen at the first hurdle. He'd spoken to Professor Slughorn about Horcruxes, and he'd even managed to find the spell to transform the object, but it hadn't worked.

"Kill the person, do the spell… there was something else," Tom muttered to himself as he paced the room, stopping in front of the broken mirror. He looked up at it. Specks of blood covered the sharp edges. "Blood, of course!" he yelled, almost jumping in glee.

He picked up a long shard of glass and ran back to the body of the girl. Kneeling over her, Tom picked up the diary and started the spell again. This time, he cut his hand open afterwards, smearing his blood on the cover.

Almost instantly, the most intense pain Tom had ever felt washed over him, but before he could scream, it stopped.

He looked down at the diary in his hand. It didn't look any different, but Tom could feel that it had worked. He could feel himself growing more detached from the world, and more attached to the diary.

He shoved the diary back in his bag, vowing to find somewhere safer to keep it at a later date, and hurried out of the room before anyone found him. It wouldn't look good if he, a prefect, was found with the body of a dead girl.

* * *

A week later, Tom heard people muttering about a new ghost. As he passed through the common room one night, he stopped a second-year girl.

"What's this about a new ghost?" he asked.

The girl seemed to shrink away from him. "There… There's a n-n-new ghost in th-th-the girl's bathroom. The s-s-second floor one. People say it's… that it's Myrtle—the girl who died l-last week," she stuttered.

He marched away from her, internally cursing. He'd have to go and see her, make sure she didn't know it was him that had killed her.

* * *

As he stood outside of the bathroom door, Tom could hear loud wailing and moaning coming from inside.

 _Why are ghosts always so dramatic?_ he thought to himself, rolling his eyes.

He pushed open the door. His feet splashed against the floor and it was only then that he noticed the water pouring from all the sinks and out of the bathroom door.

"Get out!" the ghost screamed. "This is a girls bathroom, boys aren't allowed. Get out!"

Tom held his hand up, pretending to surrender. "Apologies, Myrtle. It is Myrtle, isn't it? I'm afraid I don't know many students outside of my own house."

She swooped in closer to him. "That's a prefect badge. You should know that boys aren't allowed in girls bathrooms."

"I know. This is terribly unceremonious of me, and I do apologise for that. It's just, well, I am a prefect, and I was wondering if there was anything I could do to look out for my fellow students. This whole misfortune has them so shaken up, so I was wondering if there was anything you could tell me about your killer? I would hate for this to happen to someone else." Tom kept his voice low and kind. It was the voice he used when he wanted to get extra food from the chef at the orphanage, or when he wanted to get information from a teacher.

"I…" she sniffed. "I already told the teachers. I don't know what you think you can do that they can't."

Tom had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from snapping at her. He really hated those know-it-all types that would never dream of breaking the rules or going to anyone except a teacher with a problem.

"It's merely a request so I can keep an eye out when it is my turn to patrol the castle. If I knew who I was looking for, or at least what they looked like, I'd be able to report them to the teachers. As it is, I'd just have to report everyone that was acting slightly out of character, do you see?"

She nodded. "Okay, but I don't know how much it will help. It was a boy, I heard a boy's voice—I couldn't make out what he was saying—but I came to tell him to get out, and then I saw these big, yellow eyes. I think he had some pet, some creature, with him."

Tom breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't know that he was responsible for his death.

"Thank you, Myrtle. I promise I will try my best to find whoever killed you. I'll make it my mission."

"If you die on your adventure, you can come and live in the bathroom with me."

Tom looked back up at her. She was staring at him like she was in love.

He repressed a shudder. _How has she gone from hating me to falling in love with me in one conversation?_

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

Tom scurried out of the bathroom as quickly as he could, vowing never to set foot in there again.

* * *

 **Word Count:** 1,212.

* * *

 **This is for:**

 _ **Ancient Runes – Assignment 4;  
**_ _Task 1 – Write about something irreversible.  
_ _(word) detached._

 _ **Greek Mythology Category Competition;  
**_ _Hades – Write about death._

 _ **Harry Potter Monopoly;  
**_ _(character) Tom Riddle_

 _ **Pokemon Journey Challenge;  
**_ _(word) adventure  
_ _(word) enter_

 _ **Pokemon Trading Card – Bagon;  
**_ _(action) breaking something with fists when angry or emotional._


End file.
